The ending
by fanoffanfiction88
Summary: Madara has succeeded in extracting the nine-tails, the war is lost. Naruto wants to die with his friends near him but isn't strong enough to get to them when an old rival comes to help him succeed in his last wish. Sad one-shot, rated T for character death


**It's been a while since I published any stories, this is actually a one-shot that I thought of just as the war against Madara started in the anime, I am aware that when a tailed beast is extracted the person/container cannot survive for long and the side-effects that I write about probably don't happen. I also know that Sasuke is probably not completely in character (I find him really hard to write)and might not say all the things that he says in this fanfic, as I said I wrote this a while ago and apart from a little additional editing I didn't really change it.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

_I failed._

Thought Naruto as he dragged his sluggish body forward, every muscle and joint screaming in protest. He was barely recognisable in his blood and dirt caked clothes, the once bright orange barely noticeable beneath the filth. His eyes once a sky blue had faded to a foggy grey, hair limp and lifeless. His body was thin and bony, from the tears and holes in his jacket ribs and bruises were clearly visible.

His lungs wheezed as he sucked in another unwilling breath of air. _Just a little further,_ he thought. _Just a little further, I don't want to die alone._

The war was still raging somewhere, those plant-people left to stall the ninja for long enough to extract the last two tailed beasts. Obviously Madara (or Tobi, whatever his name is) and his 'gang' of resurrected jinjuriki were already preparing to create the ten-tails. There was no need to fight the ninja anymore, as soon as the ten-tails is created Madara will control it and it will all be over...

Bee's tailed beast was also extracted but he died almost immediately after, it was only the Uzumaki blood and sheer willpower that still kept Naruto alive but there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to die. Soon.

He trudged along the forest path that he knew lead to the camp that Sakura and Kakashi were staying at for the moment, Sakura being a medical ninja staying at the base almost all the time wheras kakashi was there for an injury, not life threatening but still serious and disabling. _I wonder if i'll make it in time... I have to tell them to run away, that it's too late. I want to say goodbye to them..._

His thoughts were going fuzzy, his breath came out in gasps with blood soaked coughs every now and then that wracked his body. He had never in his life felt as tired as he did now, he wanted to sleep, to lie down... to give up. Eyesight blurred, legs felt cold and numb and before he even realized what had happened he was on the ground.

_No! _He screamed internally. _Come on legs don't fail me now! I can't die here, I have things to do!_

His arms and legs shook with effort as he tried in vain to get into a kneeling position, they gave out and soon enough he could barely feel them at all. His body had become so reliant on the foxes chakra that without is he was weaker that a newborn baby, his muscles wasted, lungs weak and heart giving out. Each thump was irregular, more like listening to a morse code message that a heartbeat but at least it was still going. For now.

_I can't move, I can barely even think straight. This is pathetic, I am pathetic. Everyone is going to die and it's all my fault..._

Salty tears fell on the hard, unforgiving ground beneath him. Body shaking with silent sobs.

With his senses so frayed and battered he barely heard the sound of someone walking up towards him, the steady thud of one foot in front of the other vibrating through the ground. Who was it? Naruto didn't really care to know at the moment, his heart was now spluttering which if he had the energy would have made him very worried but as it was it was only just noticed in the haze that was his mind. His sobs had subsided and he was now only just able to get enough air into his failing lungs.

The footsteps stopped just in front of him, the person kneeling down to try and look at his face he presumed. He really wasn't very interested in talking to a stranger at the moment, he didn't have the energy. "Never thought I'd see the day you give up"

That oh so very familiar voice said in a somewhat scathing tone, although was that a hint of regret he heard in that unforgiving voice? No, he must be hallucinating. _No I really must be hallucinating, there is no way __Sasuke __would ever bother to talk to me before killing me. And besides, why the hell would he be here anyway?_

Naruto painfully moved his neck towards the sound of the voice and cracked open my eyes, then widened them in surprise. There sat Sasuke Uchiha, casually turning his head to match the angle of mine. His coal black eyes piercing into my lifeless blue ones, although they didn't look challenging nor blank. There was something unreadable in his eyes that Naruto had never seen in them before, sadness, regret and pity.

He tried to move his unfeeling hand forward to check he wasn't hallucinating, halfway through the motion before he realized that it didn't matter anymore. He was dying in the forest, heart and lungs failing. And talking to an old friend weather he was a figment of his imagination or not seemed like a good way to die considering the circumstances. At least he didn't feel so alone.

"You heard me dobe?" Sasuke said a little louder.

Naruto painfully cleared his throat, coughing up a little blood as he did.

"yeah teme, I heard you" He choked out in a hoarse whisper.

"So what exactly were you trying to accomplish by dragging yourself out here half dead, picking your burial place?" He said, voice teasing but still serious.

"Shut up" He wheezed.

"Now that's not a very kind way to treat an old friend is it?" he said.

Naruto's mouth twitched upwards into a shaky smile. _Old friend... ha!_

Suddenly Sasuke stood up, removing himself from Naruto's narrow field of vision.

"So, want some help getting to wherever it is your going?" He asked with an air of aloofness, as though he didn't just ask the person he had previously been trying to kill if he wanted some _help_ getting to the place he wanted to die.

"What?! Why would you help me?" Naruto whispered.

Sasuke leaned down and put his face next to my ear so the words he spoke were clear and strong.

"Because your my friend, Naruto."

He then proceeded to pick his now considerably light body up and somehow got him into a piggyback position, his cold, thin arms hung limply over the larger boys shoulders while Sasuke held onto Naruto's legs with his arms. _Well this is weird. _He thought absently as Sasuke silently took to the trees, jumping from branch to branch without much trouble from the weight of his extra 'passenger'.

"So where to?" The raven haired boy said nonchalantly.

"The camp where Sakura and Kakashi Sensei are staying at, should be pretty close to here." He whispered, having no energy for anything louder. He vaguely felt the muscles in Sasuke's back tense quickly, then relax.

A stray thought occurred to Naruto and he chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny dobe?" the raven said, almost sounding annoyed but not quite.

"I wonder how... they will react... when they see you. I wish I could... see their faces when... we get there." Short gasps separated every few words and the speech was slurred but he understood the blondes words.

"You still _can_ see their faces, don't tell me your too lazy to even open your eyes? Come on, stay awake a little longer, were almost there Naruto" Fake teasing, maybe even a little desperation.

"No, sorry... Sasuke" Was the blonds last whispered words before his heart stopped and breath died away, those once bright blue fiery eyes turning grey and misty.

Sasuke knew that he wasn't just sorry for dying.

And so he will bring his best friends body to the camp, the camp where he will face his past mistakes and regrets. Fear, hatred, pain and defeat will hang thickly in the air he will breath. He will be attacked and possibly blamed for the body lying lifelessly on him back but he would go anyway because he believed that the blonde was a man of his word...

Because he knew that Uzumaki Naruto was sorry for _everything_.

One singe tear fell from his eye, quickly being pulled away by the whipping wind.

_And so, _Sasuke thought.

_'Am I._

**This is the first one-shot and the first Naruto fanfiction I have ever published, constructive criticism and reviews would be appreciated. :)**

**It's sad I know but I have always just had this feeling that one of the main characters in Naruto will die...**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**


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